The Australian currency had kept most of the gains made in the past 24 hours, but failed to remake a five-month high reached on Monday.

At the close, the local unit was buying 93.28 US cents, marginally up from Monday's finish of $US0.9319/21.

Since 7am AEST today, the local unit has ranged from $US0.9320 to $US0.9351. Overnight, it reached $US0.9362, the strongest level since April 15.

There was little impetus for Aussie to push higher during the trading day, according to CMC Markets foreign exchange dealer Tim Waterer.

''It's kept in a fairly tight range, but it held onto its overnight highs.''

The Australian currency finished at a five-month high on Monday following reassuring Chinese economic data and a strong performance in the local share market.

However, it was not able to do a repeat performance during Tuesday's domestic session as the publication of an upbeat private sector business data failed to give a significant boost.

"Business confidence rebounded 9 points in August, following three months during which overseas financial turbulence and policy uncertainty contributed to more subdued readings," according to NAB survey.

Mr Waterer said Aussie can trend higher on Tuesday night with the release of US Advanced Retail Sales by the US Census Bureau, which investors have been waiting for since Monday.

The median market forecast is for sales to have edged up 0.3 per cent in the month.

''If it's a good number, the Aussie might move higher,'' he said.

''If it's lower, it could give the market some room for profit taking.''